Confront the Actual History of the USA
Contribute to the “American Crime” Series

Updated August 25, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Want to volunteer for revcom.us, and feel like you are in basic agreement with the principles for volunteers? We have a project for you!
Revcom.us recently began a new regular feature, AMERICAN CRIME. Each installment focuses on one of the 100 worst crimes committed by the U.S. rulers—out of countless bloody crimes they have carried out against people around the world, from the founding of the U.S. to the present day.

People have to fully confront the actual history of this country and its role in the world up to today, and the terrible consequences of this.

Right now the American Crime series takes on heightened importance, when both Democrats and Republicans are filling the air with the putrid and dangerous stench of how “great” America is, was, or could be. These articles follow this basic format:

If you or others are interested in researching and/or writing to contribute to this series, contact spreadrevolution@gmail.com. You may have a suggestion or the editors can propose one for you.

You won’t be on your own in working on this. Editors will be working with you as you tackle the project, and will want to hear what you are running into and what you are learning, and may make suggestions.

In working on this project, you will be making a real contribution to waking and shaking people up about the real history of this country, provoking them to learn more about why this country is this way, and inspiring them to look at the real solution.

A NEW PROJECT:

In addition to documenting particular American Crimes, revcom.us has a new, related project: scientifically determining, through as accurate a survey as possible

how many deaths have been caused by direct U.S. military intervention in the past 70 years

how many deaths have been caused by U.S.-supported proxy wars and U.S.-provided military “aid”

how many refugees have been created by U.S. military aggression in all its forms.

Our goal: to arrive at an ironclad figure that no one can factually dispute. This would include, but not be limited to, those crimes covered in the American Crime series. If you want to contribute to this survey, email spreadrevolution@gmail.com.

Below are some suggested American Crimes in our series that need to be researched and written. If you’re interested in these or have other suggestions, email spreadrevolution@gmail.com.

U.S. Invasion of the Dominican Republic

In April of 1965, President Johnson sent U.S. Marines and then the U.S. Army’s crack counter-insurgency unit into the Dominican Republic. Within 10 days, 23,000 U.S. troops were in the Dominican Republic. Rebel forces fought against the U.S.; a total of about 4,000 Dominicans—mainly civilians—and 44 U.S. soldiers died in the war.

The Coup in Chile in 1973

On September 11, 1973, the U.S. government orchestrated a coup d’etat in Chile that overthrew the elected government of Salvador Allende and installed the fascist regime of General Augusto Pinochet. No one can say for sure how many people were murdered. At the time, Chilean revolutionaries spoke of tens of thousands of victims. Today’s Chilean government says 3,000. Some estimates say that 400,000 people were tortured. A whole generation of intellectuals and others who could escape was driven into exile. Many of those murdered during Pinochet’s years in power were “disappeared,” kidnapped by the U.S.-installed regime and never seen again.

Torture Chamber Guantánamo

Photo: AP

People around the world have been rounded up, kidnapped, and illegally held starting right after September 11, 2001, for years on end, including at Guantánamo. Prisoners there have been systematically tortured, some tortured to death. It has rightly become a global symbol of American barbarity.

The Murder of Fred Hampton

Photo: Paul Sequeira

On December 4, 1969, a squad of special police raided a Black Panther Party apartment in Chicago and killed Panther members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in a hail of gunfire. In a carefully staged press conference, the police claimed there was a shoot-out when all evidence showed that Fred Hampton was murdered in cold blood while sleeping in his bed.

BP Gulf Oil Catastrophe

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

On April 20, 2010, off the Louisiana coast, a surge of gas burst up through the well being drilled by the oil giant BP. It exploded in an inferno of flame and smoke. Eleven workers were killed. The Deepwater Horizon drilling platform was destroyed, and a toxic gusher was let loose, which poured more than 200 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas into the rich waters of the Gulf before it was capped nearly three months later. It was an almost immeasurable environmental catastrophe that killed workers, ravaged wildlife, and savaged ecosystems from the deep waters of the Gulf to the environmentally vital shores. It threatened human health and created an economic disaster for the many thousands whose living depended on the Gulf’s waters.